


"I am not a carpenter!"

by Lizandra_rds



Category: Naruto
Genre: Anbu Yamato | Tenzou, Hatake Kakashi is a Troll, Other, Secret Santa, Yamato is an amazing person
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-27
Updated: 2020-12-27
Packaged: 2021-03-10 17:08:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,815
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28350648
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lizandra_rds/pseuds/Lizandra_rds
Summary: Holiday parties have become a source of annoyance for Tenzou, but Kakashi knows it's not about the time of the calendar.
Relationships: Dai-nana-han | Team 7 & Yamato | Tenzou, Hatake Kakashi/Yamato | Tenzou
Comments: 10
Kudos: 32





	"I am not a carpenter!"

**Author's Note:**

> I started this on December 8th and Christmas is over. I got lost on the road of life but here it is.

Shodai Hokage, Senju Hashirama, was definitely a legend. Not only because of his Mokuton, but also because of his daring to think of peace and unification when all the ninja world thought only of selfishness and their own needs. He was a schism of the status quo, a breach of expectation around him. An innovator, no doubt. Nobody could blame Uchiha Madara's apparent obsession for the man, not when he was the light itself before an abyss of blood and darkness that war brought with it. A shinobi god, indeed.

Tenzou didn't think too much of Senju Hashirama when he was younger. As the years went by, he realized that part of it was motivated by his subconscious which sought to shield any and all emotional threats that reminded him of the days intubated, immersed in green liquid, and it was impossible to forget that the reason for having lived this was to perpetuate the power of the Shodai. It was unnecessary to peek this in his mind all the time. Danzo by himself did not let him forget the motivation to have saved him from the tubes.

As he grew and changed his life, he thought of the Shodai more often. From his departure from Root to his consolidation as one of the most competent Anbu of the institution, he understood the responsibility that carrying the wooden style brought. After his change of name to Yamato and the burden of being co-captain of the Kakashi team, a doubt hung in his head more and more often: did Hashirama Senju also receive dozens of orders to manufacture pine trees at Christmas time just like he did

_Every._

_Single._

_Year?_

It's a kind of ritual that happens since then, as everyone giving him books about architecture. As if that wasn't enough, they always expected him to give the same utensils - things related to his Mokuton. He loved that his ability was appreciated, he was even proud of it, but it boils down to that? Architecture and wooden items?

It started that year when Naruto gave him a copy of "Architecture for Beginners". It was a practical guide, not a leisure book, and it was typical of Naruto not to bother reading the synopsis and back cover of the book before making the purchase. He thought it was funny and read it in the same way.

Then came Sai with a book about Architecture and Visual Arts. Contemporary and clearly an attempt to reconcile his own personal taste with Tenzou's. He felt touched by the social treatment that the young man acquired little by little, leaving his own personal mark on the present. He was good at it, Tenzou... Always watching the progress of others, always paying attention to details.

Sakura in turn gave him a booklet about Hospital Architecture. Boring, but precise and very well written. It crossed the man's mind that maybe his students had bought the end of year gifts together, once he noticed that Kakashi had only received Icha Icha and canine dressage items (useless things he probably threw away, but the intention was well scored).

Then Kakashi, the man who had known him for two thirds of his life, also gave him a book on the same subject: " _Architecture in Konoha: from its foundation to Godaime Hokage_ ". He found it incredible that all his family remembered him once, for all his life, not a single time had he been gifted before that. In addition, all his closest friends remembered his taste for construction and space design and study, and it was fantastic.

But now, after years as a team, he got tired of receiving architecture books. It was always the same in the commemorative dates, because of course in his birthday this ritual was also repeated. Tenzou felt that he could talk around the world about absolutely anything related to wood and construction. Jesus, he missed receiving socks! There was a prejudice about socks being a gift, correct? Sai had talked about it, and it made a lot of sense! Socks with shinobi sandals were awful.

If that wasn't enough, all his companions wanted wooden items as a gift. Was he a carpenter, by any chance? Honestly, he was full of it all, and the discouragement for Christmas interactions came with the snow in Konoha's landscape, burying Yamato's good humor. This year, however, the youth of Time 7 chose to make a secret Santa (most probably it was Sakura's idea), and Tenzou felt at least challenged. It would have been very easy if he hadn't taken the only member of the group who would blow his brains out (literally or metaphorically he wouldn't know how to say): Sasuke Uchiha.

He decided to ask Kakashi for help before even trying to find something on his own.

"I'm worried about the secret Santa's gift", he confessed briefly one afternoon to Hokage during a brief meeting in the Hokage room.

"Hmm?" Kakashi encouraged him to continue without taking his eyes off his book.

"What should I give to Sasuke? We barely spoke... And he stabbed me," the pout he made when remembering the event was a reflection of the involuntary tingling sensation in the scar left by Sasuke's blow to his left shoulder.

"Shouldn't the secret Santa be secret?" Kakashi questioned, but not in an acidic way. Tenzou preferred to ignore him.

"Something useful... a new katana? A medical kit? All this is so generic..."

He reflected on the needs of the young man. "Maybe a registration at a mental health center? That sounds good".

"Keep going this way and the next stab will be given by his Susano'o," Kakashi warned, enjoying the image his head formed of Sasuke actually receiving a mental health voucher.

Exasperated, Tenzou almost begged, pulling his hair in frustration... "I need help, Kakashi-Senpai".

"Mah... why don't you do one..."

"No" he abruptly interrupted before any sentence started with "do" could be finished.

"No"? His friend questioned, confusion and amusement in his eyes that stared at him in a slant.

"No. No doing things with Mokuton. Every year it's the same thing: " _Yamato-taichou, make me that wood?_ ", " _Yamato-taichou, I want that wood_ ". Honestly, that's all I'm good for?" He exploded suddenly, but he didn't stop there, releasing all his frustration in a squeeze on the bridge of his nose as he closed his eyes and threw up the words unrestrainedly. "I like that, Mokuton, but it's always about him and his ability. I have water and earth release too, it seems that people forget! _I'm not a carpenter_!"

Kakashi looked at him in total silence. Tenzou wanted to say those things and he needed to be listened to, not rebuilt. He needed this moment of digression about his own self, his worth and his place in that chopped-up family. Why, after all, wasn't this about Christmas time? About taking stock of his own, of himself, of the surroundings. About seeing yourself and fitting in where you feel good. About realizing how dear, loved and cherished we are even when words are not often spoken by those who love us. To realize, in fact, that we are needed in someone's life. But to fit in how, when all we have is mission fulfillment and commitment to duty for long, long years and make use of your skills as a tool, not as a talent that takes to be polished and handled as artistically as Tenzou has done over so many years? When this power gives you the chance to be noticed, requested, and puts you in missions where your peculiarity becomes an asset. And from mission to mission his status as a shinobi is higher and higher. And without asking, out of the blue, in the fulfillment of a mission your family chooses you? When You choose your family?

It was like Tenzou was seen in the middle of it all. He loved Time 7 but on days like this he wondered if they would love him if it wasn't for his wooden style. He seemed silly, but how could he know? He's not a good parameter to distinguish love from mission fidelity when everything he loved involved his experience as shinobi. And at certain moments he felt that it all came down to this, shallow and superficial, to his talent and how faithful he could be to the missions and to Konoha, to Yamato being useful. Not wanted, not desired, not necessary. Only useful.

And Kakashi listened carefully about Tenzou's boredom and his frustration with Time 7, which only asked him wood and only gave him books. About choosing a recipe book for Naruto because he only ate ramen and needed to feed himself better; about Sakura getting a hypoallergenic hand-hydrating because one day he commented about how much his hands were dry due to the excessive use of hospital gloves; about Sai learning to make flower paintings in watercolor and they took the opportunity to give him an illustrated botany guide, and how he made an immense and beautiful picture for the Yamanaka floriculture. But he didn't, he only got architecture books.

Yamato, who was _desperate_ for not knowing what to give as a gift to Sasuke Uchiha, claiming that the young man was closed and reclusive, without realizing how closed and reclusive he himself was.That even after the years, his team, his family, still hadn't visited his house of 4 simple rooms with white walls and some plants on the window sill, with a two-seater sofa still rigid because he never went to rest for no reason, immersed in the shinobi routine, and that he almost always read on the carpet that almost always had dust when he returned from long missions, which was almost always before being integrated into Time 7. And Kakashi only knew this because, well, he was his Senpai and his closest friend.

Yamato, who didn't realize that all the complaint wasn't about Sakura or Sasuke or Naruto or Sai, but about himself and about the fear of being the rest, of being left over, of being invading a space that wasn't his. How everyone knew each other and admired each other, but he was just protocol to be followed. He who for many times hoped that he would be recognized as someone with tastes, with abilities and with qualities, but didn't understand that contrary to what he thought, his students asked him to do things instead of buying because they knew he didn't like to spend money with nonsense. That they only asked for wooden things because even if Sakura was the greatest medical ninja of all, Naruto the greatest hero of all, Sai the greatest Anbu of all together with himself and Sasuke the most complete shinobi of all, more than Kakashi himself at that moment, who was Hokage! Still, they delivered specific orders full of details trusting that they would be done with mastery. Because Tenzou was not a copy of the Shodai. He was someone who gave life and personality to his technique in his own way and that caused fascination in his children. He caused fascination in Kakashi even after all these years.

His students had their faith so unshaken in Tenzou that they filled him with requests in the hope of not being disappointed, and they never were. And if he stopped there it would be good, but he read and wrote down in all the books he received, and even if he didn't like some of them, he didn't stop using methods that he learned from them, methods that enriched his Mokuton, that enriched the streets of Konoha. How many of those constructions were not made by him? And so many, and so different... Konoha was all a trace of Tenzou's personality, of his creations. All of it could be seen as a wooden mosaic made by those skillful and capricious hands, not only techniques, never just about technique. It was about effort and whim, things that overflowed from Tenzou. Tenzou did not see that.

Kakashi saw it.

He didn't say. However, he saw it.

"I can say you're out of time to make sculptures this year and you're tired of architecture," he offered, too shallow, on purpose.

Yamato snorted, letting go of the tip of his nose. "Never mind, Kakashi-Senpai. They're just gifts".

Kakashi knew it wasn't about gifts.

Usually they exchanged gifts on random days, so it wouldn't get in the way of each other's routine. This year, however, they took advantage of Sasuke being in the village to have a different meeting. He was supposed to arrive for Christmas, but he didn't make it. Iruka agreed to do it at Naruto's house while he faced the snow outside and visited the Ninja Academy, aiming to give privacy to the Team's moment. Iruka was the portrait of attention. Naruto's furniture was dragged to make room for the group. Whether it was to end the attention focused on him or for any other reason, Sasuke began with his tracks:

"I have nothing to say about my secret Santa. Like this. Short and direct, that's how Uchiha Sasuke started what should be a guessing game. And then everyone explained in unison: "It's Sai". Clearly it was Sai, because he and Anbu had absolutely no contact. If it was Yamato, with whom he also had no contact at all, Sasuke would probably say something like "I stabbed my secret Santa" since social betrayal was not Uchiha's greatest ability. It was a clue, at least, wasn't it?

The gift given was a new buckle to carry the scrolls that Sai used in combat. Nothing special but quite useful. Appropriate and impersonal. Sai continued with the game:

"My secret Santa is ugly" and promptly he heard Naruto and Sakura with great certainty in their voices pointing to each other and laughing. Sai looked at the other participants, confused. He knew he should guide the assumptions although he had no idea how long. "It's one of you two" he affirmed and everyone around him released an "aaah!" of annoyance at the break of suspense.

He continued, "This person constantly threatens me, but I feel he does it with love.

"That's problematic, don't repeat it out loud," Yamato scored. Someone needed to have a conversation about damaging displays of affection with him. And with someone, Yamato knew it would be him. He came out looking even more tense and, once pressed, delivered the points. "She is a medical ninja", and although it was obvious that it was Sakura, everyone greeted him with a good attempt of play. He gave her a band of hair and hand painted gloves with red and black details of his clan and clarified: "Ino sewed it for me".

Sakura gave him a hug, not before he shrank with the threat of approach. She explained briefly that in one of her rare walks together she had told him that being a doctor undermined all sense of style with the always hermetic and dull materials. It was sweet of Sai to remember that.

"My secret Santa is a strong and incredible ninja, he does extraordinary things!" This was Sakura's moment of glory, like the smart and perceptive kunoichi she was. According to the tip, it could be any man present there.

"He has a special mastery and skills and everybody admires him for it". Still very vague, in fact.

"He's a wonderful friend. And I don't say teammate, I say _friend_. He knows how to make friends and touch your heart".

"It's Naruto!" everyone smiled easily, even Sasuke twisted his face in a face. Naruto was presented with a personalized kunai similar to the Youndaime Hokage, Minato. Sakura wanted to give him something that would remind him of his true family through the hands of someone who had him as family by choice. Naruto would never know how to explain it in words, but he knew in his heart that it was precious. He wiped a subtle tear as he got up from the ground to take Sakura's place in front of the group.

"Right, 'ttebayo! My secret Santa is old".

Tenzou began to wonder where Kakashi was all this time for his students to be so rude. Please, refer to someone as "old" and "ugly" in a fraternization... But he couldn't expect that kind of lesson from Kakashi.

"He wears something weird on his forehead that's not even useful! It could be just a mania, I don't know, it's very confusing dattebayo!" he derailed talking to then kind of screaming, exasperated. Well, that was confusing. Yamato used his Happuri and it certainly wasn't useless. Kakashi, in turn, was still schism in using Hitai-ate and now without Sharingan there really was no use at all.

"He taught me a lot but he doesn't have a watch? _He never arrives on time!_ "

Kakashi extended his hand to pick up his little box without anyone needing to say that it was about him, then although he was sneaky and imposing, he was not a fool. But Naruto pulled him unceremoniously into a warm hug that surely was only comfortable for himself. Everyone laughed when they saw the chrome pocket watch that Naruto gave to Kakashi.

The leader of Time 7 didn't even bother to get up, speaking from where he was, legs crossed and hands resting on his lap.

"I really appreciate my secret Santa's abilities", he started.

"He is solicitous and very talented, mastered his technique in an impeccable manner and was so useful to the village with her that sometimes I feel embarrassed to ask her favors... Mah, on second thought, no, I don't feel".

"He never took us to his house but he takes care of us all like..."

"It's Yamato-taichō!" He came out and interrupted him.

"If he takes care of everyone it's Yamato-taichō, no doubt!" Sakura agreed at once.

"A great mother hen, haha" Naruto punctuated between laughs, hands crossed behind the head, relaxed and calm.

Yamato blushed, the pink covering his cheeks giving a beautiful and healthy glow, the slight embarrassment of being noticed as someone who cares and cares and gives exposed love, making his beautiful face look younger with the reaction so clumsy. He rose to _anger_ red when Kakashi handed him a crumpled piece of paper taken from his right pocket showing what he saw as a promotional discount coupon for Hokage at Ichiraku.

Kakashi gave him a restaurant gift coupon.

That stupid, shameless idiot who (How, Jesus?????) is the damn Hokage, gave him a restaurant discount coupon in front of all his staff. The half-moon smile in the eyes of fake innocence when, God, he knew he was striving not to laugh.

Well... it wasn't architecture at least. No socks. He sighed bitterly and thanked briefly before turning around, getting up and continuing the joke, undoing his face of disappointment in respect to his students.

"My secret Sa...."

"We all know it's Sasuke, Yamato-taicho"

"But Sasuke deserves the ceremony, Naruto". With this, Sasuke's cheeks were almost imperceptibly stained. He kept the blasé air, eyes away, but everyone knew his attention was there.

"Well. My secret Santa is handsome," but in case no one knew it was Sasuke, that didn't say much. All the members of Time Kakashi were blessed with youthful beauty and well-defined bodies, shiny hair and impeccable teeth. Well, at least Sakura, Naruto and Yamato had impeccable teeth since Kakashi didn't take off his stupid mask and Sai and Sasuke didn't know how to smile.

"He's a great shinobi and an admirable Konoha defender. I am flattered to know that he would die for me, even if we don't know each other that much. It says a lot about his heart. He deserves to be happy and, like me, I know he is happy with the family that welcomed him as one of their own.

Yamato said those words because, just like Sasuke, the feeling of dislocation was there in his stomach forever. Maybe it would be good for the boy if someone other than Naruto told him that.

"Unfortunately I don't know what he likes and I had no one to turn to".

"You asked for my help," Kakashi commented.

"And you didn't know how to help" he kind of murmured to himself in anger, but got himself together. "Anyway, I hope you know how to relax at some point. You deserve it, after all.

Sasuke opened the little box with an invocation scroll inside. There was a list of items that might help him to relax and unpopular in his rare moments of mental stress relief outside the village: a meditation guide, a pot of relaxing tea bags, a notebook with sketches to fill a painting, a bamboo massager, a magazine of silly jokes that Tenzou sincerely didn't see the slightest grace, but what did he know about Sasuke? He didn't find a good gift, but judging from the rose of Sasuke's cheeks, now subtle but clearly visible, he seemed to have enjoyed it.

"Please, let's repeat that next year!" Naruto shouted before guiding everyone to the snack table. They sat down halfway showing their gifts to each other, except Tenzou with his damn coupon crumpled in his pocket. Still, short words from Kakashi and everyone's recognition warmed up his day, melting the bad mood snow that the excess of architecture books brought in these last years.

"Did you like the gift?" he heard Kakashi ask in the middle of the mess of voices at the table.

"Ahn, ah... Of course! Very, hm...", but he was interrupted with Kakashi's hands astounding his words.

"Good, good. I'll find you at 8, then"

" To?", he questioned.

"To use your coupon".

"Kakashi-Senpai, you're unbelievable. You forgot to buy a gift, is that it? I'll have to pay for your dinner and you know I eat less than you, so wouldn't it be worse if you took my gift and paid my bill at least? I mean, once in my life it wouldn't kill you".

"You know, I have one too" Kakashi clarified.

He took a very crumpled piece of paper out of his pocket. It could be a coupon or an old invoice, Yamato would never know. He sighed, defeated, and Kakashi concluded: "Look at the good side: this year you didn't get anything about architecture".

"Not winning anything is no better than that" Yamato accused.

Kakashi laughed, amused by the boredom of Tenzou, getting up and saying goodbye with his hands to everyone at the table. "So, at 8:00, don't be late for our date".

"Combines... Wait, what?" Tenzou interrupted himself, seeking an explanation for something he certainly misheard.

But Kakashi had already gone, and now he really needed to buy a better gift than Hokage discount coupon trash or nothing in wood or architecture. Something that Yamato really deserved.

My goodness...

What was he going to buy?


End file.
